It's official now. Jericho will not be renewed for a third season. However, I should mention that they filmed only seven episodes for the second season. This time, they filmed two different endings so they would be prepared for either situations. I know some people will try to start up the 'Nuts' campaign all over again. I strongly discourage people from even bothering the people at CBS. They gave it a second shot and it didn't do good enough. It's not everyday that a show is rescued from cancellation. It's a rarity.
The seventh and final episode will be aired on Tuesday, March 25. Right now, it seems like the show is perking creatively. So perhaps it's a good time to go out in a big way and with closure.
To the folks of Jericho, it was nice knowing you.
Raychelle is a deaf v/blogger. Her blogger is named Rays of Raychelle. She has an excellent command on both languages of ASL and English.CORRECTION: Raychelle does not have a cochlear implant. This is what I get for skimping over the vlogs. Though I do agree with what Raychelle had to share in her vlogs. Regardless, I stand by what I said.
What I am about to say may generate some heat. However, I will not just sit here and say nothing while Raychelle is getting attacked. It's time for someone to stand by her side.
It is tiring to read the complaints about there being too many cochlear implant bloggers on Deafread. If you don't like what you are seeing, go somewhere else. Deafread is a highly diverse blog aggregator. The fact is, we are in the 21st century. It is a changing world. Raychelle is telling the truth about the auditory section of the brain. If you don't take advantage of it within the first five years, it will become far more difficult to acquire a spoken language.
I do have both positive and negative views on the technology of cochlear implants. I have read many stories. Some people are successful with it, some didn't benefit from it. The truth is, a large range of success stories are attributed to strong parental involvement. I don't have a cochlear implant, but I am a successful person because of my parents. I am fluent in both ASL and English. I have deaf and hearing friends.
Anyway, I am not saying all of them will succeed but like I said, it is a changing world. With the advancements made with the technology, it is not getting worse. They are getting better at helping the deaf hear. That's why Raychelle shared a valid concern about how some people believe children should wait until they are old enough to consent to the surgery. Why do children need to be consented? Deafness is a physical disability, that's why we have ears. We are supposed to hear using our ears. So why can't the children be given the opportunity to hear?
Just think about it. Think really hard.
Though I do question the accuracy of hearing tests on infants. Some babies were thought to be deaf only to be discovered that they are moderately hard of hearing or hearing months later. This is the part that really concerns me. Imagine a hearing infant mistaken for a deaf child and is implanted at age of 6 months. Cochlear implant destroys the residual hair cells. So by implanting a hearing child with a cochlear implant, you are in fact forcing deafness upon the infant. There is no way of knowing how many children this happened to because their residual hearing are already destroyed as a result of the surgery.
I do think it is a valid concern that should be looked into. Regardless, I don't think Raychelle was too far from the truth about children being denied the opportunity to be implanted with a cochlear implant. I think it's great that she is spreading the message on the importance of including both ASL and English in every child's life.
We need people like Raychelle to spread message on the importance of language acquisition for the deaf and hard of hearing. Amy Cohen Efron's "The Greatest Irony" is what came to my mind when I watched Raychelle's vlogs. It appears that Raychelle share Amy's sentiments on being inclusive of both ASL and English as a part of a child's language development. I don't think anything is wrong with the idea of giving a deaf child the opportunity to hear better and possibly speak English without any barriers.
It is incredibly sad to see people attacking Raychelle simply because of her opinions surrounding cochlear implants and is talking about it on her blog. Some people are failing to realize what a potential asset Raychelle is to the deaf community. Politics is an ugly game to play and Raychelle is a human being, just like all of us are.
She is an asset to the deaf community and should be treated like one. We can all sit here and complain about how ASL is being eliminated. The truth is, we are causing our own extinction. The parents of deaf children should not be fought against. That's the number one mistake a lot of deaf people make.
Raychelle, don't let it get to you. It took a lot of courage to speak your mind on these matters especially as a Deaf woman and a strong signer. I know it's still a taboo and by speaking up, we can get stigmatized for it. Just keep on speaking your mind. It will make an impact and open some people's eyes.
In the end, we still are all human beings. I do believe it would greatly benefit the children to include both ASL and English even if the child end up not using ASL later in its life. It still does make a difference in the first few years.
Whew. What a lengthy one I wrote today. By the way, feel free to share your opinions and please, please refrain from making personal attacks. We all know that some of us may feel compelled to make some strong and harsh personal attacks toward each other. But what does it really accomplish? Nothing but bitter feelings.
I might lose a few bluegrassers or gain a few as a result. Regardless, it's something I had to speak up on. I just had to.
A tip to the commenters, be proactive instead of reactive.
Project readOn just turned a year old. They already made an impact on the internet over the year. If you ask me, I think it's quite an achievement on what they have done so far. I command them for doing a great job.
As a part of the celebration, you are now able to embed any captioned video from Projectreadon.com on your blog. Just like you can with YouTube and Google Video.
Congratulations to the Project readOn team for a great year!
In this vlog, I discuss the episode of Jericho that was aired on CBS on Tuesday, March 4, 2008. The vlog is captioned for these who are not fluent in American Sign Language. For these who prefer to watch ASL vlogs without subtitles, you can disable it by clicking onto the “CC” icon.
I am looking forward to what all of you have to say regarding the recent episode of Jericho. Just to warn my readers who may have not watched the episode and are avoiding the spoilers. It would be a good idea to not read any of the comments left by the readers here as they may contain heavy spoilers.
Enjoy the vlog!
